Nelly Furtado Discusses Finding Balance

LAS VEGAS, NV - MAY 20: Singer Nelly Furtado arrives at the 2012 Billboard Music Awards held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 20, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for ABC)

Nelly Furtado (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

“I think there comes a time in your life where it’s good to dream and it’s good to have goals; then the goals don’t end there,” Nelly Furtado said in an interview with 97.1 AMP/Los Angeles. “It’s not like a ladder where you climb to the top of the ladder and just sit there and look at the rooftop. It doesn’t really work that way.”

It’s been six years since the release of Furtado’s hit 2006 album Loose. Since then, Furtado has become a philanthropist, an entrepreneur, and a mother ready to show off her new Spirit Indestructible in 2012.

A mother who says that she can make a “mean banana bread with chocolate chips,” Furtado has spent the last six years embracing and enjoying the role of motherhood, working on her Spanish album Mi Plan, starting her own record label Nelstar, and becoming an ambassador for Free the Children–a charitable organization to whom she purportedly gave $1,000,000 for building schools in the Masai region of Kenya.

Furtado’s break from the English-speaking music world didn’t mean that she was sitting still. Furtado enhanced her creative side with Mi Plan–an album with “songs about falling in love,” and family life.

“There are times when I slow down but it’s more just to pursue other artistic endeavors,” she said. “I really enjoy developing this artist on my label and learning new hobbies. I’ve been playing basketball lately. I’ve been having fun doing that.”

Furtado explained how she juggles her life.

“It’s fun having a career, but you have to have a sense of balance when you’re a writer because you have to live normal experiences to engage people with your songs,” Furtado said. “I never want my songs to be boring and people not to feel like they can connect with them. I want everybody to be able to connect with my songs.”

On Spirit Indestructible, she collaborated with Darkchild, Mike Angelakos from Passion Pit, Tiesto, Nas, Sara Tavares from Lisbon, 16-year-old rapper Ace Primo, and reggae-tinged producer Salaam Remi. The Kenyan Boys Choir are also featured onthe album and she confessed the title-track of the album is her favorite song.

“That song is just about everyone I’ve met . . . the last year of my life was really life changing,” Furtado said. “I became an ambassador for Free The Children which is an organization that builds schools around the world; I went to Kenya this year and last year working in communities and building schools.”

She further explained that she met many inspiring people along the way.

“I felt really rejuvenated when I wrote the album and ‘Spirit Indestructible.’ It’s a positive song but you can also totally thrash your body around to it. There’s excitement when I’m out there doing my thing. I love performing. I love tapping into that wild creative side.”